To Ally with Ghosts
by VespaRiderXephon-01
Summary: xover with Gaunt's ghosts. Naruto and a few of the rookie nine are assigned a new mission after contact with some mysterious strangers. They will be subjected to new horrors in this mission. But the question is, how will they evolve? narufemkyu if anythin
1. Visitors? Naruto's exciting new mission!

A new story from me! Sorry it's so long, but I wanted to start the mission by chapter 2...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Warhammer 40,000, or Gaunt's Ghosts

"Speech"

regular text

_thoughts_

(comments or useful information)

'quotes/sarcastic speech/use of term'

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_**To Ally with Ghosts**_

**Chapter 1**

Visitors? Naruto's exciting new mission!

_It is the 41st millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die._

_Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants – and worse._

_To be a man in such times is to be one amongst billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods._

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By the middle of 776.M41 (year 776 of Millennium 41) the twenty-first year of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, Warmaster Macaroth's main battle-groups had penetrated extensively into the Carcaradon Cluster, and had become locked in full-scale war against the main dispositions of the archenemy overlord, ('Archon'), Urlock Gaur.

However, to Macaroth's coreward flank, an equally savage war front was being prosecuted by the Warmaster's secondary battle-groups – the Fifth, Eighth, and Ninth Crusade Armies – as they attempted to oust the forces of Magister Anakwanar Sek, one of Gaur's most ferocious warlord lieutenants, from the margins of the Khan Group.

The theatres of that campaign read as a roll call of Imperial heroism and endeavor: the glass beaches of Korazan, the black glaciers of Lysander, the high sierra forests of Khan Nobilis. However, the jungles of Mori should be especially noted, as there have been rumors of outside help…

-from _A History of the Later Imperial Crusades_

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**15.24 hrs, 257.776.M41 **(day 257 of year 776 of millennium 41)

**Flagship "Invictus"**

**Orbiting Unknown Planet 387**

Lord General Van Voytz, decked out in full ceremonial uniform, looked upon the tiny world from his flagship in space. This particular world was located on the far outer rim of the Sabbat worlds. It was small in size and was mostly covered in water, if not for one large continent on the equator. "Tell me again, Biota," he said, "what was the name of this planet?"

"This planet has no name, sir. It has not been touched by the God-Emperor or Chaos filth. In fact, it was just discovered scant months ago, we came here to decide what to do with this planet." With that, chief tactician Biota stepped back and allowed his superior to think.

"Hmmmm…yes…well, the first thing to do is to scout out the planet, eh?" without pausing to let Biota answer, Van Voytz continued, "Send down some of the 'ghosts' to see what's down there. Let Gaunt pick who he wants to bring."

"Yes, sir." Saluting, Biota left the viewing room to complete the task assigned to him.

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Upon the planet's surface, a thunderhawk gunship screamed down into a forest clearing, quickly opening its belly to unload ten men, just ten men with mysterious weapon in black leather and green cloaks.

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Meanwhile, in Konohagakure no Sato, a fifteen year old Naruto (and most likely the rest of the village) watched what appeared to be a falling star fall with a loud screaming noise into the northern section of the grand forest in fire country with his friends.

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Tsunade, the village's hokage, had witnessed the falling 'star' as well. Thinking it suspicious, she sent an ANBU squad to investigate the site of its 'landing'. The squad, under the captain Natsukawa, left immediately.

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The group of ten snuck forward. Since their landing in the forest, they had proceeded with the utmost caution, with their camo-cloaks over their heads, making as little noise as possible. Their senses were stretched to their limits searching for hostile objects; they were well aware that this world could be as hostile and barbaric as the orcs.

Thusly, they continued through the forest, so quiet that only those with the most skill or those that knew what they were looking for could detect them. These men searched anything, everything, and nothing. They searched for signs of life or anything that could be used or settled in. They moved forward confidently, as if they were sure that nothing would see them. This was a well-founded confidence; however, as when they moved, they disturbed nothing, cast no shadows, and made no noises. They were almost like…_ghosts_

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The ANBU had reached the clearing and were currently searching for clues that could potentially be used for tracking. Natsukawa was inspecting the bark of a tree when one of his subordinates talked to him. "I believe that we've found something, captain." The ANBU said.

"Oh? What is it? Show me." Natsukawa was curious to see what it was; he had not seen a single thing since they showed up. Granted, his field was not in tracking, but he still should've noticed something.

"Of course, captain. This way." The ANBU then led him into the middle of the field.

"What is it? I don't see anything."

"Sir, the grass is bent and flattened, as if a strong wind washed over this area." True enough, the entire center of the clearing had its grass flattened. The ANBU member continued, "This does not seem to be a chakra based attack, because if it was a fuuton jutsu, the grass would have been shorn away, not just flattened. The way it is, it seems as if something literally _blew_ a strong gust of wind to cushion a fall or something…" He trailed off at this point, leaving the rest to the captain's imagination.

The captain was angry at himself for missing something so obvious, but he calmed down and asked, "I see…have you found anything else?"

"Yes, sir" the ninja replied, "there also seems to be footprints leading away from the clearing to the south. There appears to be around ten people. Also, the first set of footprints is a fraction deeper than the rest, which indicates that they jumped off of something."

When the ninja was telling his captain of the direction the mysterious people were headed, Natsukawa gasped, _Konoha is to the south…they must be stopped before any harm can come to the village!_ With this thought in mind, the captain waited until his subordinate was finished before rallying the squad and setting off in pursuit of the group of people who were, in his mind, going to attack Konoha.

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The group of ten had reached another clearing, and thought it a good place to rest. So, the group of ten spread around the clearing, polishing and cleaning their weapons, taking a nap, and enjoying the scenery. One even started smoking a cigar!

The leader's name was Gaunt, or rather; his full name was Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt. Dressed in a formal military outfit complete with a greatcoat and officer's cap, he had short, cropped blonde hair and piercing electric-blue eyes. He was also wearing his regiment's, the Tanith first and only, or Gaunt's Ghosts, standard camo-cloak and was equipped with a single bolter pistol, 15 clips, and an ornamental sword. This ornamental sword was special, it did not slice like an ordinary sword, for it is a power sword; the power sword of Verghast's (a previous world he had fought a war in) first leader: Heironymo Sondar

He looked upon the men he had taken with him (he was refused the right to rally all of the ghosts, as this was strictly a small scout mission, and a whole force was excessive). His men: Major Elim Rawne, Sergeant Mkoll (leader of the scout specialist squad), Dermon Caffran, Mkvenner (an excellent scout), Bonin (one of the scouts, nicknamed 'lucky' Bonin), Doctor Dorden, Murtan Feygor, Hlaine Larkin (the sniper, nicknamed 'mad' Larkin), and Brostin (the flamer specialist). They were all his best and finest, most suitable for the job of scouting an uncharted planet. He was proud of them and trusted them with his life.

As Gaunt sat down under the shade of a tree, he could hear Bonin, smoking his lho stick, yell out, "Haaaaahhh, to be back in a forest again, it feels great!"

"It certainly does," Rawne agreed, "Especially after all those wars on forge-worlds and agri-worlds. I haven't seen a forest this big in a long time. You kind of miss these things, you know?"

Gaunt, who was paying attention to his troop's babble, jumped when he heard the voice of Mkvenner next to him saying, "Colonel-Commissar-"

"Just call me Gaunt"

"Gaunt, sir," Mkvenner continued, unused to using his name, "do you know where we're going from here on out?"

"Yes. I'm planning to just head south until we hit the beach. On the way down I think I saw some civilization to the south of our drop zone."

"I see" Mkvenner replied, "then I await the time when we leave."

It was at this point when Mkoll heard a tiny rustling of leaves. He was about to tell Gaunt when, a second later, four men in black cloaks and white facemasks appeared, holding Gaunt, Rawne, Mkoll, and Mkvenner at knifepoint.

"What the hell! Who the feth are you! Get your knives off of their throats!" The rest of the squad yelled in surprise and anger.

"売る性!" The one in the wolf facemask yelled before quieting down and demanding, "誰だ、お前は？"

All the ghosts seemed dumbfounded, "What…what the feth did he say? What kind of language is that?" Bonin asked no one in particular.

None of the ghosts had a clue what was said, and all seemed lost, as the lines of communication failed and they could no longer bargain for their leader's lives. Suddenly, Mkvenner spoke, seemingly unafraid of the knife at his throat, "It seems to be a modified dialect of Old Gothic. I'll try to translate. That one just said: 'shut up!' then, 'who are you?'"

Getting desperate, Dorden yelled, "Well, what are you waiting for, Ven! Answer them!

Nodding, Mkvenner said, "俺たちはゴンツゴスツです" Then, fishing out the translators that were given them in case they met intelligent life forms, Mkvenner continued, "これはラングエージトランズレーターです。君の顔にひきます。"

The cloaked men restraining Gaunt, Mkvenner, and Mkoll took the translators that were handed out to them and put them over their faces (think like Kakashi's facemask, except there are earflaps, as well). The cloaked figures started twitching, as if the devices were uncomfortable, which they probably were. Deciding to test it, the people spoke, "What – you – doing – here – for."

"What's wrong with the translators? That sentence was barely understandable." Dorden said.

"It seems that the translator can't work well enough due to the fact that this dialect of Old Gothic was greatly modified from the original. Didn't you hear the blank spaces?" Mkvenner replied.

Gaunt, tired of getting nowhere, tried negotiating, "We don't mean any harm. May you take us to your leader?"

-------------ANBU PoV-------------------------------

The strange devices that man gave the ANBU quite uncomfortable. The seemed to do the trick, however, as they could now understand, if a little roughly, what the rest of the rogue group was saying. So, it was no surprise that they understood when the leader said, "We…mean…no…harm. Take…us…to…leader?"

The ANBU conferred together about this. On one hand, it would be easier and possibly more beneficial for them if those men were taken to Tsunade-sama, but on the other hand, it could also be endangering their leader, their village, and their families.

Eventually, the ANBU decided that Tsunade could take care of herself and that allowing them to see her couldn't hurt, so they herded the men together and led them southward.

----------Ghosts PoV-------------------------------------

The ghosts waited for the decisions of those men. After a few minutes of consideration, mostly done by small gestures, they appeared to approve. Three of the men formed up to lead us; two behind and one ahead. The fourth one went ahead to, apparently, alert their leader.

_Sacred feth!_ The ghosts thought upon seeing the cloaked man leave. They were watching in silent wonder as the ANBU leapt up into the trees and proceeded to dash forward with almost inhuman speed and grace. _How did he do that? Jumping from tree to tree…that's impossible!_

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It took three hours to reach the gates of konohagakure, and when they got there they were immediately ushered into the Hokage's office. All along the way, from the gates to the office, the Ghosts were staring at everything Konoha had to show; they were awed at the size of the gates, amazed by the mountain's carvings, and interested at the commotion in the market on the streets. Obviously, by the time they got to the Hokage's office they had multitudes of questions.

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Tsunade had been waiting for the foreign convoy for about two hours now, and she was really annoyed that it was taking so long for them to get here. She was just about to explode and take her frustrations out on the numerous inanimate objects in her office when her secretary, Shizune, walked in, "The foreigners are here, Tsunade." (She doesn't have to use the honorific because they've known each other for so long)

"Finally, let them in." Tsunade sighed, and dropped down onto her desk, trying to look as official and impressive as was possible.

The four ANBU walked in accompanied by a group of ten men in black leather body armor and cloaks that were a dull green with a little brown and black mixed in here and there. The ANBU then proceeded to tear off their translators, the captain giving his to Tsunade to put on, then started explaining about the mission and the group that went with them, "Hokage-sama, our mission was a success. We went to the site. Then, Hikami noticed the area was windswept. We traced those people southward and intercepted them three hours walking time from the village. We had control of the situation, but those men wanted to see you. Lacking a clear objective in that situation, and seeing that they were not a significant danger, we led them here, although you may want to examine their weapons, they are…peculiar. You will receive a more complete report later, Hokage-sama."

"I thank you for that, Natsukawa. You are dismissed, but may wait outside the door if you like. I want to talk to these men alone." Tsunade said. She then adorned the translator that she had in her hand and turned to the Ghosts, waiting for the ANBU to leave.

"Hello. I am Tsunade, the Hokage and leader of this village and you are?" Tsunade started off.

"Gaunt walked forward, "My name is Ibram Gaunt. I hold the rank of Colonel-Commissar. I lead a regiment of fine soldiers from Tanith, called the Ghosts. These are some of my boys here." (I'm getting tired of putting pauses and taking out words, the lag of the translators is now implied. I have spoken. XP) He gestured towards his troops, who reacted with jovial gestures ranging from a simple smile to a friendly wave.

Tsunade was greatly confused with his explanation, but managed to keep it in check. She instead channeled that confusion into a highly articulate and eloquent question, "Tanith…Ghosts…Colonel-Commissar…wha-?"

Gaunt caught on immediately and apologized, "Oh, you don't understand, I'm sorry. All will be explained in due time. For now, may I ask some questions of my own?"

Tsunade nodded, "You may ask."

"What is this place, who are your soldiers, and can you give me a brief summary of the way this world works?"

Tsunade did not understand completely, but answered the best she could anyway, "This village is Konohagakure, the village of the hidden leaf. We are all ninja, people who specialize in stealth and assassination. With the help of jutsus, or techniques, coupled with high skill in hand to hand combat and weapons handling, we are able to call upon various skills to burn, drown, bludgeon, slice, decapitate, and psychologically torture our enemies. Our stealth is so great that we can melt into any environment, and no one will know we're there until the second they die. As for the workings of this world," Tsunade pulled out a map, "This continent is split into several countries, the fire country, wind country; earth country, water country, and lightning country are the major powers and the largest countries. However, there are also minor countries like rice country, wave country, and bird country. Each major country houses its own village of ninjas, as do a few minor ones. The major villages are the hidden stone in earth country, the hidden sand in wind country, the hidden mist in water country, here, the hidden leaf of fire country, and the hidden cloud in lightning country. The terrain of each country can usually be deciphered by its name: fire country is vastly forested, wind country is a big desert that receives high velocity winds daily, the rock country is mostly mountains and canyons and there is hardly any arable land, the water country is mainly marshes and is sometimes covered in mist, and lightning country has a lot of plains and hosts many thunderstorms throughout the year. Each country uses has its own army, but mainly we shinobi, or ninja, are used as we have much more skill. There have been many large wars between shinobi over the years; in fact, we are still recovering from one that happened 20 years ago. During peacetime, we shinobi find work through missions requested of us by anybody, whether they be regular peasants or political leaders of the highest degree. The shinobi villages also have a system of ranking for both ninja and for their missions. Genin are the lowest rank, they are beginners, with almost no battle skill and only the most basic jutsu; they are only allowed D-rank missions, the lowest ranking missions, D-rank missions have no chance of battle, and are usually menial labor like washing windows. Veteran Genin, however, are also allowed on C-rank missions, which entail a chance of battle, but only with those that are non-shinobi, and are mostly low-level escorting, delivery, or retrieval missions. Then there are Chuunin, mid level ninjas who are the equivalent of a squad leader. They are allowed to go on C-rank missions while veterans are allowed on B-rank missions, which can involve battles with shinobi Chuunin rank or lower, and usually entail low level assassination, low level scouting and surveillance, or high level escort and protection. Jounin are high level shinobi, and usually only go on A-rank missions; which usually entail high level and complicated versions of what lower rank missions entail, like protection, assassination, surveillance, retrieval, delivery of dangerous and/or important packages, and the like. However, they do go on B-rank missions if there are no A-ranks left. There are also ninja that do not fit inside the ninja ranking system. There are the ANBU, who were the ones to escort you here. They are elite ninjas hand picked by the kage out of those in the jounin rank. They are the personal bodyguard of the kage and are usually assigned to take care of security in the village, but are on occasion given S-ranked missions delegated to them by the kage. There are also medic-nins, who are ninjas who are trained in the medical arts department of shinobi, and hold intricate knowledge of the human body. Another type is the Hunter-nin, jounin rank ninjas who specialize in tracking and killing missing-nin, ninjas who betrayed their village and wander the continent as criminals. These missing nin also have official rankings based on how dangerous they are to the villages. Ranging from D to S, just like missions, D is equal to Genin, C is equal to Chuunin, B is equal to tame jounin, A is equal to malicious jounin, and S is equal to missing nins who are suspected to have grown to kage level and are to be eliminated with extreme prejudice by a team of 3 or more hunter-nins from any country. Last of all, there are the kages. Each major country has its own country, while the minor countries have leaders who can be considered as kages within their villages, but are not officially recognized as such. The kages are me, the current Hokage of Konoha, the Kazekage of Suna (sand), the Tsuchikage of Iwa (rock), the Mizukage of Kiri (mist), and the Raikage of Kumo (cloud)." Tsunade lay back in her chair, her mouth a little sore from the long explanation.

Gaunt, however, was still trying to process all the information given to him. It took a while because it was so much info, so detailed, and in such a short time. Meanwhile, the rest of the ghosts in the back were in shock at all the information, the simply couldn't understand all of that, so the stopped trying. After a while, Tsunade spoke up again, "Now may I ask you a question?"

"Sure"

"Where are you from and why are you here."

Sighing, Gaunt prepared to launch into the second long explanation today, "Alright. I and my men…come from space."

Tsunade's jaw dropped in shock before turning red in anger, "YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT! THE NERVE OF YOU PEOPLE! YOU HAVE THE GALL TO BARGE IN HERE, AS STRANGERS, NO LESS, AND HAVE US TREAT YOU WITH HOSPITALITY, THEN SPIT OUT THIS BULLSHIT AND EXPECT US TO BELIEVE IT!"

Gaunt sighed again, "Please, just listen to me, and then you can judge whether it's true or not."

Tsunade calmed down, "Alright, fine. Prove to me that you aren't lying."

With that, Gaunt started up again, "I and my men come from another planet, one that is already long dead, called Tanith. Since then, we have been fighting a war called the Sabbat crusades. The crusades are a war to free a group of worlds that are considered holy from the enemy that killed Tanith. This enemy is called Chaos. Our society, the Imperium, has many enemies, whether they are aliens, like the green-skinned orcs or the lithe and acrobatic elder, to chaos, the epitome of corruption and evil. Chaos is our archenemy, a force that calls upon demons and mutates men into unrecognizable beings of horror and death. To combat these forces we ourselves have many different armies. The Imperial Guard, regular foot men like us, the Inquisition, an order responsible for detecting the taint of chaos and eliminating it, the Commissariat, which provides men trained to motivate people and keep them working hard. The greatest of our armies are the Adeptus Astartes, or the Space Marines. They are genetically engineered super-warriors, capable of superhuman feats of strength and bravery. They are accompanied and assisted by the Adeptus Mechanicus, who experiment with weapons and armor, and provide them with the latest in armor and weaponry. That was the basic rundown of our universe and what's happening. As for why I'm here, this is an unnamed planet in the Sabbat worlds that has been recently discovered. I was sent here with a strike team to scout this planet and see if there was anything worth using. Imagine my surprise that I would find a whole civilization here, especially with such a great fighting force."

Tsunade was clearly not convinced, "Look, that's a really nice story and all but can you just tell me the truth now?"

Gaunt was not surprised by her response, and answered calmly, "You still don't believe me? Fine, if it's alright with you, I can bring some people from your village back with me into space. Then you can see if I'm lying or not."

Tsunade, although still not convinced, was nevertheless intrigued by Gaunt's proposition, "Very well, I'll send some people with you. SHIZUNE!"

Hearing her master's call, Shizune entered quickly, "Yes, Tsunade?"

Tsunade handed her a packet, "Bring these people to me. Jiraiya should be peeping in the hot springs right now, when you give him away, prevent the girls from beating him, he's needed."

Shizune nodded, "Yes, I'll be right back."

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An hour later, Naruto, Shino, Kiba, Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, Tenten, Hinata, Kakashi, and Jiraiya filed into her office. "You called, grandma?" Naruto said.

Tsunade smacked Naruto upside the head before moving on to why they were there, "I have called you here to ask you something."

The assembled ninja stood there for a minute before Jiraiya broke the silence, "Go oooooonnnnn…"

Tsunade started in surprise, "Oh! Right. Recently, a group of foreigners have been brought here for questioning. They claimed to have come from space. I didn't believe them, but they proposed to bring an envoy back to their 'ship'. So, I sent for you. Do you accept?"

All of them nodded, curious to see where they would go. "When are we leaving?" Kakashi asked.

Gaunt answered for her, "You have one hour to pack anything you may want to bring, as you may be up there for a week or more. We will meet at the northern gate."

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Up in the flagship, Naruto and the gang were being led through the many corridors into the 'Lord generals room', whatever that was supposed to be, by more of the men in the same uniforms as those that came down to their world. When they reached their destination, they saw that man, Gaunt, walking out. He spotted them and motioned them in. Stiffening in anxiety, the ninjas from Konoha strode in.

------------------Lord Militant General Barthol Van Voytz PoV------------------

Van Voytz dismissed Gaunt from his office, as he had already finished telling the Lord General about his findings on the newly discovered world. He was greatly intrigued when Gaunt told him that he brought some of the natives of the planet back with him, and asked Gaunt to let him see these 'ninjas' that he spoke of, to which he replied that he had already asked the ninjas to be brought in. Gaunt was not gone for a minute when he suddenly reappeared in the Lord General's room, ten 'ninjas' following him.

Voytz looked at Gaunt expectantly, expecting him to introduce them. It seemed Gaunt caught on quickly, as he suddenly spoke, "Oh! Sorry, sir. These are the ninjas that were sent from Konoha: Jiraiya, Kakashi, Shino, Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, Lee, and Tenten." He gestured to each ninja in turn as he introduced them.

Van Voytz studied them for a minute, before replying with a reserved, "I see…" He was deep in thought for a while, before he spoke to the Konoha shinobi, causing them to flinch slightly as they were already all too uncomfortable with their unfamiliar surroundings, "So, Gaunt tells me that you're all 'ninja'? And that you specialize in various covert operations, such as assassination and information gathering?"

Kakashi was the one that answered, having been the first to recover from the wonder and anxiety that was caused by being in a place that was totally alien to them, "Yes, we do all those things and more."

Van Voytz nodded, "Good, I was curious to see these…abilities of yours."

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow, curious, "Oh? And how would you plan on doing that?"

The Lord General was smirking slyly, "I would have you go on one of these 'missions' of yours."

"What would you have us do?" Jiraiya asked.

"Recently, one of our officers has been captured by Chaos forces. A general to be exact. You are to go to the planet, Lexion, where he is being held, and retrieve him." Van Voytz turned to Gaunt, "Gaunt, I would have you accompany them, but you may only choose a tactical force of fifteen, including you."

Gaunt saluted, "Yes, Lord General. I would be happy to." With that, he walked off to prepare the men he would take with him.

After Gaunt left, Kakashi voiced his question, "This is an A-ranked mission. How do you plan to pay us?"

The Lord General answered simply, "In supplies, of course. We will pay in food and various pieces of technology that might be useful to you. Also, if you complete this mission, we will be coming back with merchants for trade, and give your people access to different worlds."

Jiraiya nodded, "Then we accept." He turned to Kakashi, "Kakashi, I'm leaving this mission in your command. I have to go back and report to Tsunade about all this."

"And I will lend you a drop shuttle." Van Voytz said, "As for the rest of you, spend the night here and leave tomorrow. My tactician, Biota, will lead you to your barracks."

With that, Biota stepped up, saying, "Follow me.", and led them out the door.

Before they went to far, Van Voytz's voice rang through the door, "Oh, and before I forget, there will be extra payment if you assassinate the leader responsible for the abduction!"

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In case you all wanted to know, this takes place one year after the three-year jump, so Naruto is 16. Naruto is a chuunin now, but everyone else's rank is the same as they were after the three year jump.

Dialogues too awkward? Explanations too long? I'm open to comments so read and review!


	2. Mission start! Help from the inside?

Right, chapter two up for those of you who like this thing.

...please review...

Disclaimer:

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Chapter 2

Mission Start! Help from the inside?

Recap:

Jiraiya nodded, "Then we accept." He turned to Kakashi, "Kakashi, I'm leaving this mission in your command. I have to go back and report to Tsunade about all this."

"And I will lend you a drop shuttle." Van Voytz said, "As for the rest of you, spend the night here and leave tomorrow. My tactician, Biota, will lead you to your barracks."

With that, Biota stepped up, saying, "Follow me.", and led them out the door.

Before they went to far, Van Voytz's voice rang through the door, "Oh, and before I forget, there will be extra payment if you assassinate the leader responsible for the abduction!"

End Recap:

Eilhad Whitman walked back from the mines. His arms were still numb from the mindless work that he was required to do; breaking rocks made your arms reverberate until there was no more feeling left in them. However, he still had work to do. As soon as he reached the habs, he went inside his room to retrieve something. Waiting a few hours for dusk, he calmly strode out of his hab tucking his autopistol into a hidden pocket of his grey and black camo version of his worker's uniform.

Stepping out into the cooling air of the streets, he started running. Hurrying through alleys and above walkways to avoid the patrols of the various Chaos-spawned mutants that served as the local militia.

He was closing into the market now, or what was left of it. When the Chaos descended upon the planet of Lexion, a majority of the traders, over half of them being from off-world, were scared off and fled or went into hiding. Thus the building, which used to be a large domed stadium, is now half collapsed by the Chaos raid, and the rest that was still standing was quickly deteriorating. There were a few merchants still there, selling their sparse wares for exorbitant prices in hopes that they could still make a living out of their profession.

He was almost through the back door when an alarm sounded. The large klaxons that popped up, blaring at him loud and clear, scared him and apparently the merchants as well. Whatever had happened, he did not want to be caught in it, and even as the merchants disappeared, melting into the background, he ran out the back door, through the small stretch of field before coming to a small hole nestled into an area of tall grass. He jumped through not a moment to soon as a group of three minotaur-like mutants ran past. Trying to calm his breathing, he walked through the dirt tunnel and knocked on the steel door. A slit about eye level opened up and a voice spoke. "Password?" it said.

"The taint withers"

"Even as it kills" the voice answered. The doors then swung open and two pairs of hands sprung forth from the darkness, grabbing Whitman and dragging him bodily inside.

Inside, he was put on a chair as a small light turned on above him. There was a squad of similarly dressed men, all pointing their pump-action autorifles at him. Then, a moderately tall and bulky man in his late 30's walked into the light's pale glow. "Good evening, lieutenant Balker." Whitman said, turning to the man that just entered.

Balker nodded, "Good evening, to you too, Sergeant Whitman. Are you clean?"

In response to this Whitman stood up and half the soldiers strapped their guns to their soldiers and checked him over, looking for signs of the taint or chaos-made tools. When they were done, one soldier stepped forward and said, "He's clean, sir" before he turned up Whitman's right hand and exposed his wrist, where there was a some sort of seal, "but he's got himself marked."

"I see" Balker replied, "You'll need to get that removed if you want to go to the mission tonight."

"Yes sir." Whitman said, saluting his commanding officer. With that, he walked into the next room, which was lit with candles and had a room-sized symbol of the Imperial Eagle and holding and aquila. Someone was there waiting for him. He was a priest, robed in regal red, white, and purple robes. "Ayatani Saur, can you remove this seal?"

Saur simply nodded silently, before leading Whitman into the center and putting him on his back, in the same direction as the eagle. He then proceeded to position his right arm at a 90 degree angle from his body, wrist up. All he said was a simple, "This will hurt…terribly." Before he took out an necklace aquila, anointed it with a dab of holy water, and pressed it firmly into the center of the seal.

Whitman felt his whole arm explode in pain. He felt as if his whole arm was being skinned alive. All he could do was scream and writhe in pure agony as dots danced before his eyes, trying to lure him into sweet unconsciousness.

Ten whole agonizing minutes had passed. It was finally over. Whitman tried to stand, but failed and had to sit back down. It was obvious he wouldn't be able to for a while, though, because he was panting and sweating lakes, half moons already forming around his armpits and collar.

------------------10 minutes later-----------------------------------------

They were holding the briefing. Lieutenant Balker was pacing around the center of the semicircle of men, telling them about what they were going to do, when they were going to do it, and other things that were expected of them. "Alright. The Guard's forward squads are scheduled to be here to meet us at about 0200 hours. Whitman, Vanderson, Dilram, you're all to go up the side of the local munitorum shipping grounds and meet up in this shed, here." Pointing to the map to illustrate his point, he then turned to the other eleven men of the group, "The rest of you are coming with me. We'll be making a…diversion for those three."

Seeing that there were no more instructions for them, Whitman, Vanderson, and Dilram left to prepare their supplies. Meanwhile, the rest of the resistance cell were planning out their diversion, "We'll be the only ones out there other than the cell from the north" he began, "We'll set up some incendiary bombs here, here, and here. Afterwards, we'll meet up with those sent by the northern cell up here and fight off any patrols or soldiers sent and leave the minute we see an opportunity." He finished, crossing red X's where they were supposed to set up the bomb and green X's where they were to meet with the other cell.

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Whitman, Dilram, and Vanderson moved as quietly as they could up the alley. Darting between cover, they tried to avoid the few patrols that came across the area. It was ten minutes until the incendiaries were set to go off, and they wanted to be back into the city by then. They were happy that they remembered to smear grox blood across their skin, so the fetch-hounds could not sense them. They were making good time out of the city to the meeting spot when they encountered…something. There was not telling what it was, because it had no definite shape. It was a glyph, an amorphous blob of enchanted metal that constantly reformed into different blasphemous symbols that could put even the most hardened veteran guardsman into fits of convulsions, weeping and throwing up in agony if one looked at it.

Apparently, it was sensing around, searching for any unmarked that were lurking around after daylight. All of them turned away, hoping to not be found. Luckily, they had their seals removed, and could not be sensed by the glyph. "Great, it can't sense us. Whitman stated. Vanderson, Dilram, let's hurry. He reached the next small wall before he noticed that no one was following him and ran back. When he did, he came upon the sight of Dilram, lying on the floor in seizure, drooling and showing the whites of his eyes. He obviously didn't look away in time. Whitman sighed. He didn't know what to do; he couldn't very well just leave him there, but there didn't seem to be many alternatives.

Right on cue, Vanderson spoke up, "He's finally calmed down, but he should be out for the rest of the night. What should we do with him sir?"

Annoyed both by the coincidence and by the fact that he didn't know the answer, he tried to massage the anger vein in his forehead and answered shortly, "I don't know."

"But-" Vanderson sputtered, but was interrupted by Whitman who sent a deathly glare his way. "We're…We're not going to leave him, are we?"

Whitman sighed. Vanderson was still new and young; he was only 20 when he joined the PDF, and hadn't yet experienced most of the tragedies and traumas that occurred during war. "No, Van. We're not going to leave him. We're going to…come back for him…" He couldn't meet the rookie's eyes.

Vanderson may have been new, but he wasn't an idiot; and so it was natural that he noticed that his squad leader was avoiding his eyes, "You lie." At that, the sergeant's eyes widened as he was surprised and stunned, but he still didn't say anything and continued to avoid his gaze. "I don't understand. Why can't we just take him with us?" Vanderson asked, his voice had an almost plaintive quality to it.

"Because, it'll slow us down and we'll increase our chances of being caught. His whole body will react to the glyph's gaze now, that's how it works." Whitman answered simply.

"I don't care!" Vanderson argued, "I'll carry him the whole way, it's not as bad if I get caught, right?"

The exasperated sergeant sighed, "Fine, but he's your responsibility. Let's move." So, after a period of stagnation that was way longer than necessary, they finally started to move again.

They were almost to the meeting point now, but Vanderson was starting to get tired. He was lagging behind, Dilram's limp body flailing out from atop his back. There was no cover available now; it was a straight dash for the shed, hoping to not get caught. They were even closer now, only fifty meters…

Twenty meters…

Ten meters…

Five meters left. But suddenly, shouts exploded in our ears and we stopped in our tracks. A little off to our right, there was a group of three minotaur-like mutants; they had seen us and were coming upon us, their lascarbines at the ready. Only one thing ran through Whitman's mind as they dropped to the grass _Shit! Shitshitshitshitshitshit!_ The mutant patrol was close enough now, and they had started firing. Whitman and Vanderson returned fire with their autorifles, but it was looking pretty hopeless because of their superior numbers and superior weapons.

They were pinned. They were about to die. The mutants were closing in, lascarbines braced at their waist and muzzles pointing right between their eyes. So, they sat still, waiting for that ever-faithful las-bolt to send them to the Emperor's side. They heard voices; small unintelligible mutterings and grunts and every so often, the sentence, "Ruum, Dar Madre! 1" Finally, the clack and whine of three lascarbines being reloaded and armed alerted them as the mutants raised and aimed their weapons…

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1. These words don't mean anything. I have absolutely no grasp on Chaos language and so made up some words. It's supposed to be, "Le'ts kill them now!"

Wheeee! a cliffhanger! I feel so evil now...but I couldn't resist doing it just once... Will they die? Where's Naruto and the others? How is the city battle going? Review and then read next time, when To Ally with Ghosts (TAWG for short...lol...TAWG sounds funny...) is updated!

Once again, please review...


	3. Explosive save! meeting the locals

Yo! Chapter 3 is up for y'all to enjoy, but don't forget to review at the end!

Disclaimer:

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**Chapter 3**

Explosive save! Meeting the locals

Recap:

They were pinned. They were about to die. The mutants were closing in, lascarbines braced at their waist and muzzles pointing right between their eyes. So, they sat still, waiting for that ever-faithful las-bolt to send them to the Emperor's side. They heard voices; small unintelligible mutterings and grunts and every so often, the sentence, "Rume Dar Madre!" Finally, the clack and whine of three lascarbines being reloaded and armed alerted them as the mutants raised and aimed their weapons…

End Recap:

**Earlier that day…**

Naruto was **extremely **bored. He, his friends, and the ghosts had been deposited on Lexion for half a day now. They had immediately made haste for the shed that was the planned meeting place. So, they had made camp here and had been waiting (a.k.a: doing nothing) for the past twelve hours. The only thing they had to occupy themselves with was getting to know each other a bit better as well as briefing on the world they were on.

Throughout his twelve hours of wait, Naruto had gathered many opinions and different pieces of information. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto was quite smart; he just had no common sense and no enthusiasm in math and science as well, so it was not surprising that he actually understood what everyone had said.

The ghosts that Gaunt had brought with him: Caffran, Rawne, Mkoll, Mkvenner, Bonin, Domor, Feygor, Larkin, and Varl, were all generally nice people. Gaunt himself had a rather dry sense of humor and had such an affinity with words that he was able to inspire people on the spot with his speeches.

Varl, in a nutshell, was very fun to be with. The sergeant with an augmetic arm (got it blown off in some war) always seemed to have a joke to tell, he was sociable and very jovial in nature. He seemed to make his fun by making other people have fun. One of his chief means of entertainment, it seemed, were the numerous gambling rings he set up; from chicken fights to other games, he always had some different game to have fun and make money with.

Larkin…Larkin was hard to describe. He had good eyes and vast amounts of experience, but his nickname, "Mad" Larkin was aptly given. He just didn't seem right in the head anymore. The master sniper was jumpy and didn't trust a thing that he hadn't seen through his personal scope. The scope was like his lifeline, he said, "This scope shows me the truth. I don't trust anything or anybody that I haven't seen through this first."

Feygor was hard and generally unsociable. Kind of like Sasuke to a lesser degree. He stayed quiet most of the time and seemed to mostly listen to only Rawne's orders. When he did talk however, it was in a bare monotone voice that sounded constantly sarcastic, due to the augmetic voice box that he received after getting his natural one blown out in some other war somewhere…again.

Domor, "Shoggy" Domor as he was called, also was blinded in the same war that Feygor and Varl had obtained their wounds. Apparently, he got his nickname because his new eyes made him look like an animal back on their home; on this, "Tanith". Domor was a detection specialist and it was his job to seek out mines and other buried explosives and traps.

Bonin was a scout. Not one of the more famous ones, he was a good scout nonetheless. He had lived through a number of fatal situations and it was said that he was born under a lucky star. He was mild but still somewhat sociable, and was serious when he needed to be. All in all the model trooper.

Mkvenner was another scout, said to be the best in the regiment next to his sergeant Mkoll. He was skilled in hand to hand combat and had a twirling, graceful style that seemed to seamlessly incorporate bare hands or any type of weapon in it; whether it was a staff, a sword, a club, or something else, he was masterfully proficient in it. It was rumored that he was a descendant of something called the "Nalsheen", a group of warriors that were proficient in the old arts and had saved Tanith from government corruption. He was generally cold and businesslike, but it didn't seem nearly as hostile as Feygor.

Mkoll, Mkvenner and Bonin's superior, fitted into the name of ghost perfectly. A master of stealth, he was able to vanish anywhere and everywhere. Even the ninja were in awe at his ability. He was modest to a fault and kind, though he tended to be extremely quiet. Probably due to his training as a scout.

Rawne…Rawne was bad. That's all Naruto could say. He gave him this uneasy feeling, and Naruto felt as if he would never trust him. He seemed angry all the time and most of the ghosts (other than Feygor) generally stayed away from him. He was like a snake, ready to strike when the time was right, and you never knew who the next target was. Also, he seemed to have this unreasonable hatred towards Gaunt. _Though_ Naruto thought _I should be grateful. It seems that his hatred used to be much, much, much stronger._

Lastly, Caffran. He was the youngest of the group, but no less skilled and valuable. He was nice enough, though nowhere near as friendly as Varl, he was helpful, too, trying to assist the ninjas into getting acclimated to the environment and teaching them how to use different little devices that they brought with them. Also, it seemed to be common knowledge that he and his girlfriend, Tona Criid, adopted two kids named Yoncy and Dalin. Criid , Yoncy, and Dalin were waiting back in the ship for him.

The ninja were also informed about what kind of world they were on. As they were already told, Lexion was a chaos infected and chaos controlled, thus marking the place as extremely dangerous and psychologically damaging. Before it was taken over by Chaos, however, Lexion was a prosperous forgeworld, a world used to manufacture weapons, armor, kit, and other items. It was the third largest in the Sabbat worlds, under Fortis Binary and Calniyth respectively. So, they could expect the entire world to be covered in cities and hives, with numerous mines in between. Factories and Churches of the Ecclesiarch would be most common next to the numerous habs that the people used to live in. Thus, there would be a hard time finding food, but there would be plentiful cover. There was more, but the rest had to be learned from experience.

Thusly, everyone was equally as happy as they were surprised when the sounds of gunfire welled up from outside. They slipped quietly toward the direction of the noise and hid behind the remains of a second wing building next to the munitorum storage shed.

What they saw surprised them, to say the least. There were three big _things_ that were firing down upon three men, one of which was incapacitated and unable to return fire, unlike the other two. Noticing the possibility that these were their contacts, Gaunt decided to save them, "I think it's time for the ninjas to show what they can do. I'll let you guys take care of this one."

Nodding, Kakashi took control of the situation, "Naruto, you're the number one surprising ninja, so surprise them for me. The rest of us will be here to support if you need it. Besides, I want to see how good you are, I haven't seen you for almost six months, after all."

Naruto just grinned widely and said, "You got it, Kakashi-sensei!" Then, he was gone.

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**Present time**

The mutants raised and aimed their weapons as the two active members of the reception squad closed their eyes in preparation for the inevitable shot, then…nothing. _Wow, that was anticlimactic_ Whitman thought _it didn't even feel like anything happened. I always expected my death to be a little more…eventful._ So, having nothing else to do, he opened his eyes (mind you, his whole thought process took, like, a second and a half) to find a small, black metal blade sticking out the side of the middle mutant's head. There was something fizzling attached to the blade, too. As the mutant fell, he noticed that it was…

_A piece of paper!_

His moment of doubt as to the paper's usefulness only lasted a second however, as even before the dead thing hit the ground, it exploded in a brilliant flash of heat and light, blowing Whitman and his squad away in the resulting concussive blast.

Sitting up, the sergeant was just in time to witness a blonde boy in a strange black and orange outfit assault the remaining to minotaurs, who were starting to stand up from the blast, a little bruised and burnt, but nothing too severe.

Naruto rushed in, throwing four kunai at the rising enemies. Then, shouting out his favorite jutsu, created a group of six clones who closed into the mutants in arrowhead formation.

The remaining minotaurs were stunned from the blast, but were able to raise their guns and fire before he reached them. Spraying randomly, they managed to split the formation apart and shot six of them, all of which went up in smoke. They were engaged in melee battle by the little boy that had accosted them before the could reload. His initial punch flinging one backwards, Naruto aimed his second punch at the other mutant, who was just able to bring up an arm to block his devastating haymaker.

The monster's arm was still tingling from the blow, and so it used its other arm to swing around the carbine and tried to butt the ninja from the side. Naruto simply ducked under the weapon and furiously slammed the back of his hand into the mutant's face. Undaunted, the monster rose again and was joined by the other mutant, who by then had recovered.

Seeing both of them, and realizing that he would have trouble fighting both of them with taijutsu, he decided to finish it quickly. _That one would do nicely_ Naruto thought. Using chakra to jump extremely high, he took out a kunai and threw it. Making a cross-shaped seal, he yelled, "_Kunai to kagebunshin konbi! Furu! Kunai ame!" _(Kunai and shadow clone combination! Fall! Kunai rain!). One kunai multiplied into millions, and they fell like a black rain, completely covering the night sky. The patrolling mutants couldn't escape in time, as it covered the whole field, and so could only stand there, shaking in fear as they awaited their imminent death. Unfortunately, however, it also covered the area where Kakashi, Gaunt, and the others were observing as well, and once they realized this, they all ran back into the shed, not a second before the kunai hit the ground.

The ground was black with kunai, but only for a second, as they poofed into nonexistence a moment later. The minotaur's corpses weren't even recognizable anymore because of the puncture wounds carpeting them. All of the remaining strike team stared in awe of the damage Naruto did. Finally, Caffran broke the silence, "Holy feth, the damage that could do to infantry…such a wide area of effect…" he said in a tinier-than-usual voice.

Naruto landed and waved to his comrades, "OOOIIIII! How was that!" He yelled/asked.

Only Kakashi gave a reply, "Naruto, when did you learn that?"

"Oh, I invented it while I was on the trip with ero-sennin" Naruto answered, "He thought it would be good if I had a highly damaging jutsu with a wide area of effect that didn't take too much chakra."

_Not take too much chakra? _Kakashi thought _Well, I guess that makes sense, seeing that Naruto uses kagebunshin a lot and has a superhuman amount of chakra… Damn, I wish I was able to copy that with my sharingan…_

Suddenly, Caffran noticed something, "Oh, Shit! Where're the contacts!"

Eyes widening in realization, Kakashi attempted to calmly ask Naruto, "You didn't kill them, did you?"

Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Naruto replied, "hehehe…No, I don't think so…"

Kakashi's eye bugged out, "WHAT! You don't know if you killed them! You moron! Why the hell did you use that jutsu if you didn't know that they would live through it!" Well, there goes his attempt to stay calm…

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They eventually found the men they saved. Apparently, they cleared out and waited under an awning behind the shed even before Naruto used that jutsu (which awed them to no end).

After a lot of thank yous, congratulations, wows, how did you do thats, oohs, and ahs, the men were finally ushered into the shed and onto some chairs (Dilram was still out however, and was given a bed of hay to lie on off to the side). Inside, Gaunt confronted them, "I suppose you are all members of the resistance?" Whitman and Vanderson nodded, "Members of the PDF, all of you?" another nod, "I see, tell me your names and ranks, then."

Whitman introduced himself first, "My name is Eilhad Whitman. I am a sergeant of the Lexion PDF." He saluted to Gaunt before sitting back down.

Vanderson went next, "My name is Felhar Vanderson. I hold the rank of corporal in the Lexion PDF." He saluted as well before sitting back well.

Gaunt gave them an approving nod and said, "Right. Whitman, Vanderson, let me be frank with you. You were all led to believe that we are the forerunners to a larger invasion meant to free this world, am I right?" Becoming anxious at what this was about, the two men nodded hesitantly, "That was a lie. We are not going to be leading anything of the sort. We are alone here and will not be getting any reinforcements."

Utter shock. That was the emotion that ran through the two resistance member's veins at that moment. Fighting down his grief and disappointment, Vanderson managed to ask, "Then…sir…what are you here for?"

"We are here on a specific mission. We are a strike team sent here secretly to retrieve a captured Imperial Prisoner. And once again, we are alone; we will probably not be getting any reinforcements. We might not be able to be extracted as easily as well. Well, will you still guide us to where we need to be?" Gaunt asked.

This time it was Whitman who spoke up, "Yes, we will. Even if no invasion is coming in, we have nothing left to lose and might as well help the Imperium as best we can."

Gaunt smiled. It was a tight, small, and somewhat forced smile, but a smile nonetheless, "I thank you, sergeant. Now, to business. You know this place best, where should we go first?"

"Sir, it's already been about thirty minutes since we've left the base, and so the bombs will have already gone off and the distraction will be wearing out soon. I suggest we leave immediately for the base so you can inform the men there and we can get proper help." Whitman suggested.

"Good thinking" Gaunt complimented, before turning to his men and the waiting ninjas, "Right! You heard him! Let's move out!"

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Naruto and the rest of the team had already packed up and were moving down the alleyways of wrecked munitorum buildings. They were making good time towards their destination and Naruto was currently watching two ghosts, Varl and Caffran, moving down the streets, making sure it was clear when further up, he saw a small lump. The as of yet amorphous shape seemed to be moving towards them. I was…crawling? Immediately, Naruto called attention to the thing now identified as a wounded human by leaping down from his position under the awning of a building and running to the person, "Hey!" Naruto yelled, "There's a wounded guy here!" Naruto had never seen such wounds. He seemed to be bleeding from numerous puncture wounds that have been cauterized once before, turning into a completely gross mass of roiling and boiled flesh. Naruto almost threw up _Ugh, these wounds, what could have caused this? Is this…is this what becomes of…true war?_ To say Naruto wasn't affected by this thought was a lie. Little did he know, however, that it would get much worse before it all was over.

By then, the rest of the team had rushed up. "Vils!" Whitman, Vanderson, and even a recently recovered Dilram cried, "Vils! Vils! Wake up, man! Shit, what could have done this to you!" Naruto was dragged to the side, motionless and silent, still trying to comprehend what was going on while the others tried to see if they could help the fallen comrade.

Hinata came to inspect the person, as she was the only trained medic on the team (the ghosts hadn't thought to bring any corpsmen with them). After performing a diagnostic scan, Hinata sighed and shook her head. "It's no use. The burns from whatever weapon that had wounded him are too extensive and I don't have enough skill to heal all the other small wounds as well. He only has a few minutes as most." Hinata said with a heavy and depressed voice.

Attempting to sit up, the man dubbed 'Vils' tried to grab their attention, "It doesn't matter, leave me here! You have to run to the next base! The Chaos is following me and…and…" He had to stop, as he leaned over and coughed up blood

Trying to be comforting, Whitman knelt next to his comrade, "Shh…take it easy, Vils. Now, what were you trying to say? And what?"

The dying man turned to look at him with scared eyes, "It's the lieutenant, sir. He's dead."

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just in case any of you were wondering, a corpsman is a soldier who is trained in basic medical processes so he can treat men who've been wounded on the field before getting them back to a proper hospital. (a corpsman is not a doctor!)In addition, corpsmen also have to be priests in order to give absolution to those who died onthe field as well.

The quote, "There are no atheists in foxholes" is not an argument against atheists, it's and argument against foxholes.

read and review!


	4. And so the lightning tigers come

Chater 4, all! Sorry for the long wait, but chapter five will come soon. I hope you like the lightning tigers!

**Disclaimer:...

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Chapter 4

And so the Lightning Tigers Come

Recap:

_Attempting to sit up, the man dubbed 'Vils' tried to grab their attention, "It doesn't matter, leave me here! You have to run to the next base! The Chaos is following me and…and…" He had to stop, as he leaned over and coughed up blood_

_Trying to be comforting, Whitman knelt next to his comrade, "Shh…take it easy, Vils. Now, what were you trying to say? And what?"_

_The dying man turned to look at him with scared eyes, "It's the lieutenant, sir. He's dead."_

End Recap:

The three rebels have been in shock for the past half hour, running on pure ingrained memory and instinct alone. The three, Whitman, Vanderson, and Dilram, were apparently all very close to the deceased as well as their leader. They reached a nearby factory warehouse which had long been abandoned, cleared of all raw materials and whatever they made there.

The building was old, with many holes in the thin roof and mold ingrained on the concrete walls. The group hunkered down, trying to fit in whatever scarce hours of sleep they could grab before they were in danger of being discovered and were forced to move once more. Being hungry, the ninja started to gather what they could to start a fire and cook some rations. The ghosts, noticing this, warned them not to do that, as they would be discovered all the sooner.

"Hn, who do you think we are?" Sasuke replied, "As ninja of the leaf, our fires are as undetectable as our assassinations." Unbelieving, but curious, the ghosts sat back and watched them do their work.

They quite easily succeeded in making a smokeless, but blazingly hot fire in a hastily dug pit. The eight ninja wordlessly gathered around both to hide their fire from prying eyes and to cook all they food they respectively brought (in sealing scrolls).

The ghosts, seeing their success eagerly ditched their ration bars and went to ask them for real food. The local faction, however, were already asleep, used to going days without food already. While everyone else packed light and only brought a few pieces of sushi, meat, or whatever their preferred food was, Naruto, as was his custom, packed in as many cups of instant ramen as would fit in three scrolls, and was happy to share with them in hopes of inviting people to 'the craze'.

Not even listening to Naruto's rants about the greatness of ramen (which the other ninja have learned to tune out by now, though Hinata did listen in once in a while, just to hear his voice), the stealth specialists all dug in to the delicious hot food at their own pace. However, Gaunt, having both officer's rations and his pride as an aloof commander on the line, contented himself with sitting in the outer ring of the fire, listening in on bits and scraps of quiet conversation while enjoying the heat of the ninja's skillfully made fire.

A few hours later, the sun was rising, and the group was done putting away all their equipment and were just about to open the door when they heard voices. Looking out through one of the holes in the wall, they saw a small battalion's worth of human soldiers in red garb and crude demonic masks, with symbols stitched all over them that the ninjas didn't recognize, but somehow invoked an instinct inside of them that was a foul mixture of wanting to throw up and run at the same time.

Of course, the other two parts of the infiltration group were there, too. The ghost's eyes widened, "Blood Pact!" Whispered Caffran, "Sacred Feth! How did they get in here! I thought we were finally rid of them!"

Gaunt shushed them, "What are they doing there, anyway?"

He was answered by Vanderson, "They're planning to search this block next. Apparently, they didn't finish last night."

"Shit, then we can expect at least some of them to head up here, too."

"Yeah, but be happy it'll only be some of them," said Whitman, "Let's just wait till they split up, kill the few that come here before they can radio, and then leave while their guard is low."

And that was just what they did. The ghosts climbed up onto the rafters in the roof, attaching themselves using bits of wire and hooks. Naruto and the others, however, used their cloaks and blended in with the walls, so that they were completely invisible to the normal eye.

The rebels, however, having no means of hiding or getting away, had to sit inside the pit, hoping they weren't detected immediately, or otherwise acting as bait to distract the Blood Pact soldiery while the others struck.

Of course, when the battalion split up, the biggest faction went straight towards the warehouse they were in. The twelve soldiers burst in through the sliding double doors, performing a quick preliminary sweep of the area. Not seeing anything from first glance (Luckily, the fire pit the ninjas built last night was deep), they spread out deeper into the compound.

From there, with their backs turned to the door, they didn't notice Tenten closing the doors behind them until it was too late, and the place was cut off of its main source of light. At that point, the ghosts began to lay into the blood pact, blasting them from their positions in the ceiling with concentrated blasts from their lasrifles.

When the ghosts saw fit to stop their fire, the ninja killed any survivors with quick strokes of their kunai. Leaving quickly, the group fled down the side of the paved slope, past a wide main road, and continued along their path only stopping in small storage sheds or silos for minutes at a time.

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Pheguth. That was what she was called, that was what she was known as, and that was all she knows. She is a pheguth.

Pheguth, meaning filthy outsider in the language used by her jailors. A very derogatory term was her calling name.

She had just returned from that days torture, managing to live through another one of those grueling 'interview' sessions. Whenever she couldn't answer questions (due to the amnesia she had acquired somehow), they whipped her, beat her, and sometimes they would even bring the Savage Morticians, gruesome beings more machine than flesh, whose sole purpose was to feed their need for mortal skin to cover themselves with as long as they were alive. Just as skilled as Dark Eldar flesh doctors, they would slice her apart, pull out and stretch her organs, play with her bones, and play around with blood as if it were water.

It was excruciatingly painful, so much so that she would often black out, only to wake up hours later in her cell, hastily thrown in there after they found her useless for the day. All this pain and torture was almost unbearable, and the pheguth would give anything to stop it. However, not even the torture could rip the cloud of amnesia out of her mind.

Sighing, she looked to the wall where she imagined a window would be, for she was not even allowed a window, and imagined a bright sky filled with white birds flying south for the winter through clean air. Her thoughts drifted to a scene of a city with large stone spires, built small inside a large forest that seemed to cover the very planet. These forests moved and swayed with the wind, and seemed enchanted with a sentience that allowed them autonomy, unique from any other forest in the universe.

She went on to dream (for the pheguth could only find comfort in her dreams) of a small planet, with a single small continent of land. This land was wooded, mountainous, swampy, and a desert world all at the same time. This land, mostly untouched by the ravaging hands of time and development, seemed under much chaos and war, that possibly stretched for centuries. Yet, her real solace lay in the wooded area, in a single village where peace seemed not just a dream, but a reality as well.

At that point, she stopped being conscious in her dreams, and slipped into sleep, exhausted by the pain that she was put through that day.

------Infiltration group------

Naruto and his allies were making their way across the city to the capitol tower (the whole world was veritably one large city), of course, that was made difficult from constantly having to hide and the fact that the tower was almost on the other side of the planet. It had already been close to two hours, and the hastily disposed of bodies must surely have been discovered by now.

------?------

And discovered it was. The sweep of the block was quick and efficient and was carried out in just under thirty minutes. However, when they convened together again in front of the broken warehouse, not only were a good number of them missing, but the stench of blood and cooked flesh was clearly smelled in the air.

Four of the twenty-four men left were given an APC to go back to headquarters and inform their commander while the rest of them pursued the renegades that surely must not have gotten far.

Meanwhile, the four men had reached the small tavern that that section of the city's guard was based in and informed his commander. Or, they would have if their commander was not already dead at the hands of a thousand sons chaos marine.

The small troop of infantry were instantly rooted to the floor in fear and anticipation, wary of the ancient and arcane magicks of the warp that could be wrought by the mere whim of these champions of chaos.

The marine, who was the leader (judging by the helmet's dressings) of the five battle-brothers behind him, strode ponderously in front of the cowering Blood Pact footsloggers, "What is it you want?" it (for it was surely no longer human) spoke in a deep, cruel, hollow voice, "You seem to have something on your mind. Be sure that if it is trivial, I will have your head for the use of my time."

"M-m-m-my lord" one of the men began, his voice quivering in unhidden instinctual fear, "T-t-there are…i-i-infiltrators, sir. K-killed twelve of us w-within m-minutes, they did."

"Nothing more than a rat." The marine spoke, "Though rats do tend to infest and bother. Alright," it turned to its followers, "my marines! We hunt!"

The other marines cheered and disappeared, probably to start up their transport Land Raider. The leader turned to the troopers who informed him, "As for you four…I must give my gratitude. You have given us something with which to cure our boredom." At that, through their bill-hooked masks, their eyes shined with hope at the possibility of living, "So, as a reward, I will give you a quick death, as punishment for not bringing something more worthy of sport." Before the four could even open their mouths to scream, streaking energies of the warp had already rent their heads from their torso.

Naruto's group, the ghosts, and their guides had been running so long that they forgot how long. The ghosts were tired, their guides especially, but most of the ninja (especially Naruto) had energy to spare, especially at the excruciatingly slow pace (by the ninja's standards) that they had been running on. Of course, they all had to take a stop and rest inside a nearby pillbox (built for PDF use). This rest, however, signed their fate, as after no more than ten minutes, the Blood Pact's APC had rumbled into their vicinity, immediately noticing the enemy presence inside the bunker.

Pulling out tank-busting equipment (grenades, portable missile launchers, high caliber turrets such as autocannons or stub-guns, etc), the remaining twenty Blood Pact prepared to crack open the pillbox sheltering the obviously tired intruders.

The ghosts responded brilliantly, though, immediately manning the three autocannons on the lip of the pillbox opening, spraying cover fire into the enemy ranks and downing (probably killing) five in the first salvo.

The rest of them, managing to dive into cover, soon found it no safe haven as none other than Kakashi, Tenten, and Naruto appeared behind them, revealing themselves from behind their stealth cloaks. Before the men could even return cover fire, three of them had their throats slit and were already falling to the ground, gurgling in their death throes.

Right then, a small buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the work day for the civilians of the planet. All at once, scores of people walked out of the buildings, looking completely unaware (or at least uncaring) of the battle around them, probably completely desensitized the shows of military might by this time. This allowed the chaos soldiers to slip into the crowd, who, when one looked closer, were incredible pale, with hollowed eyes that screamed of despair and hopelessness, just waiting for death to come to them and release them into the arms of their perceived god-emperor.

Of course, the three ninja wouldn't allow the enemy to leave unscathed to call for reinforcements. So, calling the rest of the shinobi contingent, they pursued the enemy with gusto.

The enemy trail was easily found, the only thing covering it being the civilians themselves. The soldiers knew they were found, and so, in their desperation, started shooting randomly behind them, cutting down many civilians in their fervor.

Naruto, already shaken by the death of their guide's commander, as well as the looks in the eyes of the captured civilians, was now in shock at the sheer brutality and lack of respect for life displayed by the people he was fighting. _What are they doing! They're killing all those innocent people! How can they just involve people like that, killing them like they're nothing?_ Naruto thought _Is this…is this what is to be expected of war? Every war, from now until I die, will I see these people dieing every time just because they were unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire?_

At this point, Naruto could literally smell the burnt flesh of the dead that were shot down by lasfire. What was worse were the single autocannon and stub-gun they had managed to save, each with multiple drums of ammunition. These heavy weapons literally blew apart people, cleaving open wide gouges of flesh and leaving their ribcages and ruined innards for all to see. The ninja reared back in disgust at the way these weapons killed. Was there no compassion left to these people, to use such weapons of killing?

Suddenly, Naruto was flaring his chakra, alerting the ninja with all the power he was giving off as well as the Blood Pact by the ethereal blue light that represented his chakra. "No…more…" the blonde muttered.

Kakashi, who was the only nin hidden next to the boy, looked at him in sympathy. He sighed, _Poor kid, first time he's seen death and war. First time for many of these genin. But Naruto's different, he's probably relating it to all the death and hurt and hatred in his past. Must be hard, to experience all that._ With that thought in mind, Kakashi didn't stop him when he charged forward with at least fifty kage bunshin at his side.

---(a few seconds earlier)---

Currently, the blonde was in his own world, all the horrible, cruel, meaningless killing had overloaded his mind, which had long ago set up moral barriers to help keep his sanity, refusing to perceive anything outside that narrow, naïve view. But this, now, was far beyond the boundaries that his mind set for itself, thus shattering its barriers in the attempt to understand, breaking the fragile peace and stability that he had established all those years of his life.

So, now, all he new was a lack of hope for anything better, that all through this, this would be happening again and again, each time horrible, each time he would be helpless, and each time, he would have to move on until the next time it happened. And so, his subconscious, in a last attempt to save sanity, pulled together the shattered pieces of its barrier in the form of a promise. A promise that he would never have to experience this again, that he would die before he let this happen again, a promise that this would happen- "No more…" the boy found himself muttering."

"No more…" he said once again, more firmly this time, as if solidifying this promise inside his mind.

"No…" Naruto started again, before sucking in air, to prepare a kiai that would shatter the heavens with its resonation, "MORE!" At this, he charged, making upwards fifty kage bunshin to help defend himself from the incoming fire. He was only vaguely aware of his fellow rookie nine breaking cover to help defend his charge, yelling his name in hopes of snapping him back into cover.

Naruto was charging, a righteous feeling that he was protecting his self made promise, nestled invincibly in his heart, steeling his resolve against all danger. In the same fashion, he felt things beginning to slow down for him, as his hearing and smell shut down, and his sight focused into its tunnel vision, focusing only on the group of enemies that were killing those he had (indirectly) promised to protect. He saw dozens of kunai plow into two or three of the men, smashing through their facemasks to pierce their eyes, throat, and whatever else they could reach, killing the men instantly. Then, one of them fell back, an impression in his chest as he coughed blood that splattered across his visor. He hit the ground before two more followed in his wake. Probably the work of Tenten's weapons and Neji's kuushou, Naruto thought dimly.

However, with the help of the two heavy rapid fire weapons, all but one of Naruto's bunshin were destroyed by the time his charge reached the group, now only six strong. His bunshin had already made a rasengan in his hand and he was slamming it straight through the stub gun, disintegrating it and the gunner manning it, as well as the person feeding the gun with a belt of ammo. At the same time, his bunshin threw a kunai with an explosive note into the midst of the team manning the autocannon, exploding and not only killing the two manning the gun, but also setting off the extra ammo with the explosion's heat, killing another one of the Blood Pact who was raising his gun to shoot one of the Naruto's in the head.

Naruto was already advancing on the last soldier when Kakashi appeared behind him, stabbing the man through with a chidori. When everyone stared at the Jounin, wondering why he used it on an already weakened opponent, he answered, "Revenge."

With that one word, everyone understood.

Coming back to the pillbox where they left their allies and partners, the ninja helped patch any minor injuries and made sure they were all ready to go before once again, journeying towards their target. There had been a time during the battle, where a lucky shot arced fast and straight towards Tenten, who mistakenly tried to deflect the lasbolt with a kunai. Unfortunately, large amounts of concentrated energy are not easily diverted, and so the kunoichi's kunai was simply knocked away as the lasbolt rent its way through her shoulder. Luckily for her, the wound was cauterized by the shot's heat, and so other than the loss of one arm's use, she could continue to battle and afford to wait on patching up the wound until after.

Half an hour in, Gaunt turned towards their senior guide, Whitman, and asked, "Where's our next stop?"

"Well, pretty much every rebel in this section of the city has either been killed or captured in the fire two nights ago, so instead we're going to head towards the local graveyard, where they have a larger vox set and keep some of the prisoners."

Gaunt nodded and said no more.

------(Thousand sons, inside the Land Raider)------

The chaos marines were currently in the holding area of their squad Land Raider. All of them were discussing on where the target would be, how to track it, and what its next move would most likely be.

The Leader-priest, who was named Abannen, looked at his subordinates: Lebannen, Khorthus, Milthsy, Csiurrus, and Iunnibaris. "Now," he spoke, "The bodies have been found at this factory warehouse here (he pointed). If we suppose their target is the tower of holding, then they will most likely be going through this route (he traced the route with his gauntleted finger). If we also take into account the probability that the rest of the patrol battalion have already made contact, but lost, where do you think they will be? What do you think they will do?"

Csiurrus spoke, "As it is, I seriously doubt their forces are strong enough to siege the tower of holding themselves, so they will be expected to gather more forces. That being said, they are probably walking to this graveyard/detainment camp here to free the captured and rally them to their cause."

Abannen nodded, accepting the input, "Anyone else?" he asked.

The rest of the squad, seeing truth in Csiurrus' statement and unable to think of a better course for the ones they hunted, they agreed to set an ambush for them at the nearby detainment camp.

------(Gaunt's Ghosts, Konoha Ninja, and Local Rebels)------

They were close to the graveyard now, and the men were all nervous, committing their time to last minute equipment checks, looking to see if they needed something, were missing anything, or had something that needed to be repaired.

When all was said and done, the ghosts and ninja snuck their way inside, leaving the rebels to play lookout (and to secure a route of escape should the need arise). Approaching the guards, they all revealed themselves suddenly, as to surprise the sentries. The door sentries were quickly dispatched of by way of kunai. The graveyard sentries, however, were more alert and were only defeated after a quick gunfight.

The guards downstairs had by now heard the snap-crack of unsilenced lasgun discharge, and, like pigs to a slaughter, all of them ran up to witness what was happening.

There were 42 of the Blood Pact in all. Normally very disadvantageous numbers compared to the infiltration team's 18. However, with two people in the team with the ability to make hundreds of clones at will, a number difference of 24 was not actually much of an advantage at all.

With only a few minor and/or slightly debilitating wounds suffered by the ghosts in the skirmish, the team were already halfway inside and down the stairs when the sound of treads rumbled into the scene.

The six thousand sons chaos marines that leapt out of the land raider, evil and menacing as avatar of change itself, completely surprised the ghosts and caught them off guard. Although it was close, all of them managed to duck into cover with somewhat minor injuries by the time the marines opened fire on their position. Shoggy Domor, once again the unlucky one (due to a slight lag in his bionic optics caused by the sheer amount of warp energy surrounding the thousand sons), had both the middle and ring finger of his left hand blow straight off before he found himself safe.

Naruto, noticing this, reacted with anger, unknowingly letting a bit of red chakra show, turning his eyes slitted for all to see. This was an obvious sign to Kakashi that he was going to attack, and so he prepared the seals for a second raikiri to help support his charge should the need be.

Sure enough, the blonde charged straight through their fire, dodging and weaving this way and that, and by then Kakashi had just finished the seals to his jutsu. The Jounin sensei had finished charging his jutsu just in time to look up and see Naruto ram his Rasengan into the heart of one of those foul armoured beings. All the ninja were soon gaping in surprise however, after the chaos marine sat up so casually after having his heart pulped. None of them new of the auxiliary heart hidden between his intestines.

Naruto could only stare in shock as his jutsu failed, only able to watch as the marine raised a combat knife to stab the boy clean through the head. The chuunin closed his eyes.

The blow never came. When Naruto looked up, all he saw was Kakashi's hand, having this time pierced through the head with his own raikiri. Sighing in relief, the two turned towards the other thousand sons.

Wordlessly, the marines gathered around their leader. _Cowards!_ Naruto thought, mind filled with the rage of being cheated. Unbeknownst to him, the leader was actually chanting a spell. Meanwhile, the others, shocked into inaction by the sheer power as displayed by the chaos marines, who were natural predators of the imperial guard, finally sprang into action as they realized the danger the two in front were potentially in, they all sprang out of their hiding places running towards the two in hopes of pulling them back before whatever the leader marine was up to was finished.

Offering up his body, the chief and his subjects actually floated into the air, and came back down looking, feeling, and something miraculous. All five of the remaining chaos marines' armor glowed an electric blue as lightning linked them one by one. The armor plates of their power mail extended and distended, trying but failing to cover its new host. What had gone into the transformation were five humans. What came out of it were five beasts, looking like pure lightning bound by power armor, their helmets little more than pieces of metal bent to look like an animal's face.

These new beasts, called lightning tigers wasted no time, Pouncing, they landed on the first and fastest of the people who were trying to help their friends, Lee. Naruto was already springing forward to help, but sprung too late, and could only watch Lee's abnormally large eyes grow larger in pure horror at what was happening to him. The boy's steps slowly stopped as he fell into shock to the sound of Lee's screams as the lightning tigers tore him apart, piece by piece. By the time the beasts were done, the unfortunate ninja's once proud limbs were strewn all about his body, stripped of any muscle it may have once had, and as for his torso, it was pulled apart as well, the ribcage torn open so that his innards were exposed to air as they were bitten, dragged around by the ravenous beasts.

While all this was happening, Naruto watched with glassy, dead eyes. Not long ago, his faith in the morality of man was broken, only to miraculously resurface as an undying promise and a prerogative for everything he would do in the future. Then, even if only slightly, he failed to protect his promise for the first time, shaking his resolve and his belief in what he did, but only angering him ultimately.

But now, now…not only did he fail to uphold his self-made promise for a second time, this time the victim was one of his most precious people, one of the few he really respected as a man of principle and one that he felt a certain kinship with, and he died in the most painful way possible, completely undeserving in his mind of someone who had only ever worked hard to fulfill his dreams.

Dreams…something that was taken away from Lee forcefully, before he could ever know the joy of achieving them. How many dreams of how many people: men, women, and children, had these **monsters** ripped away in their filthy hands in a single day? How many times did they laugh in revelation, not a single amount of regret in their tainted souls? How many times did brave people stand for their dreams, only to be ruthlessly killed, their dreams ended as well? And exactly, how many times, have they gotten away with this?

Why? Naruto wondered. Why must people suffer, die without knowing their greatest joy, just because of the whims of the privileged few? It just wasn't fair! He screamed in his mind. He screamed it once, twice, three times. Many times in that moment did he scream this question, and many times he was left completely unanswered by the heavens.

Finally, Naruto returned to the present, seeing a dead moment that looked to last forever in time. He did not stay silent for long however, his mind still in overdrive, it eventually burnt out. Letting out one last, malevolent burst of red chakra, Naruto screamed his final question unto the heavens.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?"

At this point, his mind and body ceased to function, and Naruto collapsed on the ground in a heap. The moment broken, Kakashi and the rest of the team in hiding sprung into action, the ghosts shooting with all they had at the lightning tigers in hopes of drawing their attention while the ninja retrieved Naruto from his spot on the ground.

Upon seeing what had happened to Lee earlier, it was an unspoken decision that close combat was a no-go. So the ninja were forced into a support role, pathetically tossing their kunai and shuriken (along with the occasional explosive note) and casting a few long range jutsu.

The ghost's fire didn't stand a chance, however, to the armor and strength of the beasts that they faced. Not predicting the presence of anything stronger than a regular trooper, all the ghosts were outfitted only with a standard issue lasrifle or laspistol, which were honestly pathetic against the might of the lightning tigers in which they faced.

Which was why all the men found themselves in a tight spot when the lightning tigers charged, fully intent on wreaking bloody havoc on them.

* * *

: For those who couldn't tell, PDF stands for Planetary Defense Force.

Wow, cliffhanger, no? Well, don't worry or whatever it is you do, because chapter five will be coming within the week, I swear.

Like it? Hate it? Please review and help me improve!


	5. Deal with the Demon?

I'm really depressed. For some reason, Tales of the Abyss is only for the PS2, and that's just stupid. It sounded like such a good game, too... DAMN YOU NAMCO! GIVE SOMETHING OVER TO THE GAMECUBE FOR ONCE!

Well, anyway, Chapter 5 is here, only slightly later than I promised, but just a bit better than the original version due to editing. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:...

* * *

**

Chapter 5

Deal with the Demon?

Recap:

_The ghost's fire didn't stand a chance, however, to the armor and strength of the beasts that they faced. Not predicting the presence of anything stronger than a regular trooper, all the ghosts were outfitted only with a standard issue lasrifle or laspistol, which were honestly pathetic against the might of the lightning tigers in which they faced._

_This was why all the men found themselves in a tight spot when the lightning tigers charged, fully intent on wreaking bloody havoc on them._

End Recap:

The team clenched their eyes shut collectively, waiting for the blow. But just when they heard the beasts preparing to pounce, the heavy rattle of a cycling autocannon greeted them, just before five of the lightning tigers were blown away. The ghosts looked to the direction that the fire came from, and saw the three ex-PDF soldiers that they had left on lookout, wielding one of the autocannons that they lifted from the pillbox.

Intensely grateful for the fire support, the ninja now found that they had time to pull off longer handseal combinations, resulting in larger and more devastating jutsu. While both Neji and Hinata's only real longer range technique was their kuushou, Kakashi belted out a Doton: Doryuudan jutsu that dented the armor of the lead tiger and sent all of them flying back a few feet.

It now became an intense game of how close the tigers could come, dodging most of their projectiles with ease, only to be knocked back where they started by a lucky jutsu or autocannon shot.

------ (Meanwhile, inside Naruto's mind) ------

Naruto awoke, quickly taking note that he was not actually awake, for he was inside what he had dubbed his 'mindscape', where he could interact with the kyuubi. Of course, the only reason that he recognized this place on sight was because it was on his list of top 5 'places he refuses to go if he can help it'.

Knowing what he must do, he purposefully walked forward, towards where he know Kyuubi's cage to be. His mind was complex, even to him. There were scores upon scores of tunnels shooting off of the path he walked, each leading to dead ends, trash stored away, memories irrelevant, and the occasional memory of time immortal (taken from Kyuubi, of course). However, Naruto never got lost, for he knew the true path to his charge was denoted by a single pipe, exactly 23 centimeters in diameter.

Coming upon the large room, Kyuubi was clearly visible close to the bars of its cage. It was staring expectantly at him, waving its many tails back and forth like the fox it was. Having lost all fear of the beast, but no longer knowing joy, the boy replied impassively, "What?"

Kyuubi looked annoyed and growled appropriately, leaning down, but not baring its jowls just yet, "**Have you no respect, boy? You should give your betters a proper reply**."

Naruto sighed, growing increasingly wary of his time spent inside his mind, worrying about the lightning tigers that threatened his physical body. He knew he was short on time, and so realized he had to concede to Kyuubi's wishes should he desire to leave in any timely fashion. "Yes," he sighed once more, "I've been rude. Hello, Kyuubi."

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed, "**Kyuubi-SAMA**."

Naruto glared, tired of the nitpicking, "Kyuubi-SAN."

Now it was Kyuubi's turn to sigh, realizing that the brat would not get any more respectful than that. Kyuubi grinned somewhat mockingly, "**I've seen, and I know, what you've been doing, thinking, and feeling**." Said the bijuu. Pretending to be concerned, Kyuubi continued, "**You…you've lost faith, haven't you? I know you're mind. All I've ever done this past decade and a half is explore it and get to know every inch of it. I don't see through your eyes, I see through your memories. Your past, your present, it has all up until now been ruled by that barrier of morality that has kept you sane all your life. Now though, now, it is shattered, remade into a thinner barrier of promise, which has already been pierced with your inability to protect it.**"

Naruto collapsed to his knees. He had been denying it in his mind all this time, refusing to believe reality in order to protect what sanity and happiness he had left. Now all of it was set into focus by none other than the one he jailed, the one who should have by all means left him alone for the rest of his life. Kyuubi saw, for it was quite obvious, that the boy was trying to cry, but his eyes that had since then lost their fire had also forgotten how to cry and emote as well, leaving the boy pathetically helpless, kneeling devastated and dumb waist deep in dank, murky water. "What…what should I do? What can I do?" he asked, directing the question to no one in particular, "All the death, all the destruction, all the cruelty…I can't help any of it! It's invincible, that darkness which envelops half of all…but the light isn't…the light…I can see it disappearing as we speak… There's nothing left…for me…for anyone. I'm…I'm useless, there is no point to my existence…is there?"

Most would look upon the boy with pity, for he was certainly pitiable, but Kyuubi didn't. It is a little known fact, but demons cannot feel emotions, for emotions are products of mortality, and kyuubi is far from mortal. Demons instead embody one of mortality's worst traits. Kyuubi only ever does things when there is something to be gained, because he embodies greed. There are other demons that embody love of murder and bloodshed, or those that embody lust or pride.

It was also for that reason that Kyuubi, unnoticed by Naruto (who was at that point, rather preoccupied by his own problems), that it looked positively gleeful as it said, "**Boy…I would usually not offer this, but…if you like…I can make that light shine bright once more, give you purpose, and give you hope.**"

Naruto was immediately snapped to attention at that offer, "What?" he said, eyes shining once more with hope and expectancy, "You can do it? H-how?"

"**The only way someone like me can. I will give you power. The power to protect your promises, your loved ones, and yourself. If you have this power, you will never again have to see people die while you lie helpless.**"

By now, the blonde was crazed with hope and didn't even care about the consequences, "Give it to me! I'll do anything! I want it; I need it, the power to protect…" Naruto looked as desperate as he looked hopeful, a strange combination to be sure, strange enough to make even Kyuubi hesitate for a second.

Of course, the kyuubi obliged. For a moment the demon shined brightly before seeming to split in dozens of bright white motes of light. The motes all gathered at once spot and reformed into a woman. She was very tall, around 6 feet 4 inches, with flowing wavy red hair that was left down and reached to her calves. She was well proportioned for her size, but her curves were still easily dwarfed by the likes of Tsunade. Her fox ears were hidden inside her hair, but her long nine tails were still clearly visible from behind her. She was wearing a coat and skirt made of soft looking animal skins. Her eyes and lips were crimson red and both were thin and elongated, foxy, as if she knew something that she had planned was working and was laughing at it, making for a hot, but dangerous look.

"**All right then. From now on you are mine and mine alone. You will follow my orders above all others with the greatest speed possible, and will come here whenever you are called. In return I will give you as much of my power as I can, and I promise to shield you from all that would hurt you. Does that sound good?**"

Naruto's half sane mind had at that point completely stopped trying to process anything, just accepting information as it came. Thus, the boy immediately completely accepted the fact that the age-old demon, which was always thought of as male, was actually female, and accepted her offer without a second thought.

Kyuubi was smiling inside, congratulating herself on a job well done, "**Then come here my child, and I shall give you your new name.**"

And so the boy came to her, walking through the bars that separated them and allowing himself to be enfolded in her arms, "**Hmmm**" she said, "**We shall call you…Shinsou.**"

Naruto nodded, and closed his eyes, feeling comfort in the demon's arms. At that point and forevermore, he would never walk the corridors of his mind again, as he was now trapped as the Kyuubi was inside the seal, and inside Kyuubi's influence as well. From them on, he would always appear inside that same spot, inside the same cage, looking at the same wall. However, inside the outside world, a change was being wrought there as well, for at the exact moment that Naruto stepped into the cage, Naruto's and Kyuubi's chakra perfectly synched, both their chakra pools merging to become one even as the battle for dominance between the two minds began. This was a battle that Naruto was completely unaware of, and a battle that the boy was already losing.

------ (Infiltration group, real world) ------

Outside, it looked to all as if Naruto was surrounded by a circle of red fire, which slowly turned purple, and wrapped around his body like a shield. When he didn't get up for a few moments, the group started to assume that that was just a burst of chakra, not a sign of him waking up.

However, that few moments of ceasefire allowed the lightning tigers to get close. Letting loose a bestial cry as it pounced; the lead lightning tiger came upon the ghosts. In response, Gaunt hurriedly pulled out his power sword, thumbed the activation rune, and parried the first strike; his sword sliding along the length of the demon beast's armored claws in a shower of sparks.

Gaunt's parry was fast, but clumsy, leaving him stumbling back as he broke the blade-lock. The other four tigers took this time to attack as well, but by then, the rest of the group had brought their arms to bear. Their autocannon rendered useless by the close range (the rebels were afraid of hitting their allies); the ghosts had to rely on their smaller guns and whatever jutsu the ninja had left to throw.

The group started to retreat collectively, the ghosts firing their lasrifles to cover the ninja as they retreated with Naruto, the ninja throwing in a minor destructive jutsu every now and then. "Rawne!" shouted Gaunt as he helped the ninja, "do you have any grenades?"

"No, sir" replied Rawne, "All I've got is my satchel of det-tubes."

Gaunt sighed. They'd been mostly protected by the hired ninja this whole time and he was hoping, with one of their number dead, one wounded, and one incapacitated, that it would be their time to shine, though it did not seem so. Then, Gaunt's eyes widened, he had an idea! Turning around to the ranking ninja, whose name he didn't quite catch, he asked, "Do you have any more of those exploding papers?"

Kakashi checked his munitions pack, "I didn't pack much, but I've got one left. If you ask the others, they probably have more."

Gaunt smirked, "One is all I need. Hey, Rawne!" he turned to his subordinate, "Give me your satchel!" As the small bag was thrown to him, he caught it, and quickly pulled out all the tubes and attached them together before priming them and handing them over to the ninja. "Put your paper on that and prime it." He said, "Then throw it in the middle of the beasts. I know yours explodes faster, but the explosions are far smaller than the ones I've seen these dish out."

Kakashi, not completely understanding what Gaunt was getting at, did as he was told. He was rewarded with an explosion that was far larger than any he had expected, resulting in not only the shinobi, but also the guardsmen and former PDF soldiers to be blown back several meters in to various buildings in all directions.

Fortunately, he had both the reflexes and the advantage of being the one to throw the thing on his side, allowing him to kawarimi with Naruto's body out of the way and onto the roof of a nearby low-rise hab-building.

Two of the tigers had been obliterated, and yet another two had suffered minor injuries such as cracked and broken armor, allowing a small amount of the infernal energies that held them together to leak out in a toxic cloud.

Then, something occurred to Kakashi's mind, "Wait," he said, "Where's that other one, the leader?" It was then that the last lightning tiger, which was hanging on the lip of the roof right next to where said Jounin was sitting, sprung itself upwards, roaring its cry of fury as it attempted to strike down the one that dared kill its comrades.

Kakashi was caught by surprise, and was sure that he was going to die, when the demon-beast's attack was intercepted by…

"Naruto?" Kakashi muttered in wonder. The boy was standing, a full 3 inches higher than he had been when he fell unconscious, with long, flowing blonde hair with the occasional strand of red-orange mixed in. His body, though taller, was now less buff and stringier, completely encased in an aura of blackish red chakra that seemed…solid.

"Call me…Shinsou." The boy muttered back. Looking back at the beast with now midnight black irises (the pupils were slitted, but you couldn't tell because of the color), he said, "You fill yourselves with the chaos of demons in an effort to emulate them. Let me show you a real demon, one of the beings that you so love to worship."

He threw the beast away, and for a second his chakra spiked, making his shell-aura thicken and become vibrant and almost glowing in color.

For the first time in a long while, Kakashi was afraid, "What…what's happening! I thought the Yondaime's seal was absolute!"

Naruto, now Shinsou, walked forward towards the regrouping tigers as his friends, teammates, and comrades started to come to. The konoha ninja, being able to sense chakra, reacted first to Shinsou's abnormal chakra signature. Subconsciously, they all recognized him as their longtime friend, but at the same time they were still wondering how that person gained all his power and just exactly who is he or what happened to him. The ghosts, Larkin (being completely paranoid) in particular, were wondering if that person was their ally and what was that aura surrounding him.

The ghosts, not knowing the identity of their savior, were convinced that Shinsou's aura was that of the warp, meaning that even if he was for the moment helping them, was to be considered an enemy. As soon as they had the sense to, the ghosts opened fire on the boy, spraying their lasrifles on full auto. Gaunt was rallying his forces, trying to get them into an organized attack on the supposed 'warp demon'. "Come on! Do you want to live forever!" he yelled.

Shinsou was stopped short of his target by the impending fire of his comrades. He dodged the opening burst easily, catching the bolter rounds fired by their commissar. Turning around to face the charging lightning tigers, he threw the bolter rounds at the one on the right, piercing its wound even further, making it wider and resulting in an explosion of warp gas.

The ghosts, for now conceding that whatever that thing was had killing the lightning tigers as a higher priority, backed off, covering their mouths to prevent breathing in any of the warp gases. Shinsou, however, simply flared his chakra while forming it into wind, causing the haze of warp gas to blow away.

The entire infiltration group, including Shinsou, was surprised by the effects. The warp gas appeared to have healed and revitalized the tigers. The hole in the leftmost tiger was closed, and the burning gas that existed inside the tigers glowed brighter in between the eyeholes and various other cracks in between the armor.

Shinsou's eyes narrowed as he started sealing. Splitting into seven, six of them drew kunai and attached explosive notes to them. Meeting the chaos beast's charges, 3 clones to a beast, the clones slammed the kunai as far as they could into whatever cracks in the armor were available: eyeholes, between the shoulder pads, under the breastplate, etc. Before the tigers could counterattack, the notes exploded, causing the bunshin to explode in a secondary burst, dealing further damage to the beasts.

The beasts were destroyed and the battle was won. However, the leader of the squad of thousand sons, being a trained in invoking spells from the warp, was able to hang on by a hair. Broken, bloody, and unable to budge due to his completely mauled torso and limbs, the leader maneuvered his head (for his helmet had been blown off) to glare scathingly at the one who defeated him, that boy who, just a moment ago was fainted dead away at the death of his friend, had turned into a true demon, eyes depicting nothing but bloodlust and contempt with an insurmountable power to back up the unseen threat pulsing from his eyes.

Helpless to do anything other than what he was doing already, the shaman captain could only watch as he was dragged by Shinsou back to his comrades, who the boy thought would appreciate the chance to extract information, or even revenge, on the leader of their enemy, who had caused them much grief.

Kakashi took the body off the boy's hands and dragged the wounded prisoner off to be questioned somewhere quieter, leaving Shinsou to explain to the rest of the konoha ninja and their allies what happened.

"Naruto…" Tenten started, but was stopped by the boy's raised hand as he started to speak.

"Call me…Shinsou." The boy had yet to fully get used to his new name, "A lot has happened, more than you would think. I've…resolved…a few of my problems. I assure you that I am still me, and no more a threat or danger to all of you than I was before, though, as far as I would like to think, I have grown far more powerful."

Kiba spoke up, "Ummm…"

Shinsou nodded in remembrance. "Ah, yes. About my power. I guess you can call it…a deal with the devil?" he said, cocking his head to one side slightly as a gesture of being unsure. Before anything more could be said, he walked off to see how the interrogation was going, ignoring the confused staring faces of his allies and comrades.

Shinsou walked upon the scene of the leader, already mauled and bloody, being again beaten by his previous sensei even while he was questioned about the whereabouts of the chaos stronghold, enemy numbers, and any other pertinent information that came to Kakashi's mind.

There were many methods applied to torture, though many of which were denied them because of lack of supplies. However, Kakashi did what he could with only threats of pain, torture, and death, along with whatever beatings he could risk without killing the man. Only skilled in the most rudimentary of medical ninjutsu, Kakashi could do no more than stem the bleeding for a while, and he knew that if those wounds reopened, he would be powerless to stop the bleeding again, and the prisoner would be gone within the hour.

Kakashi still had the avenue of genjutsu, although he was not particularly skilled in that area, either. Realizing early on that it was one of the few actual tortures that were likely to be effective, he resorted to what genjutsu he knew quite quickly. No matter how many images of hell and fear he subjected the prisoner, however, the chaos marine held strong, proof of the insanities his brain was subjected to by the warp, desensitizing him to pretty much all torturous genjutsu the Jounin knew, no matter how strong or advanced they were.

The boy watched impassively from the entrance to the alleyway as the leader refused time and time again, all his answers only giving the barest of information. Eventually, the space marine died of blood loss, taking with him all the secrets and information yet to be divulged. Kakashi had learnt nothing except that the general direction they were heading in was correct, and that they were far outnumbered by their enemies, but not necessarily outmatched, mostly useless information that they already knew, although the information on their destination was reassuring.

Once again, the group was wandering aimlessly, knowing where they should go but reluctant to get there with anything resembling speed. By the time sunset had arrived, the group had arrived (due mostly to the help of ninja, as their speed were found to be far superior to both the ghosts and rebels) at the next section of city (because the whole planet was a large city, the city was sectioned into different areas, cut into four hemispheres, with one line at the equator, and the other at the 0 degrees latitude line) and were finally in the same hemisphere as the central governmental tower.

Deciding that they needed the rest after their battle, they called it a day and took shelter in the nearest properly roofed warehouse, once again preparing a warm fire with warm food. And though lacking a proper bed, it would be the closest thing to luxury that all in that group would have for a long while.

------ (Pheguth, Central dogma holding area) ------

It was sunset, and the pheguth was returned to the holding area to grab whatever fitful rest would be available to her…no…it, for she was no longer human, but a mere possession to be toyed with as the forces of chaos pleased.

It didn't even remember whatever humanity it once enjoyed. It's name forgotten along with everything else among the almost addictive haze of pain that came synonymous with being repeatedly possessed by minor demons of the warp in the attempt to drag something out of her ruined psyche.

Looking out through its tiny window, it listened as the chaos-mutated beasts assigned to protect the 'treasure' talked amongst themselves of the band of 'rebels' that were marching upon the tower, said to even have defeated squad of chaos marines of the thousand sons.

This piece of information did not register in its decaying brain, and so appeared as nothing more than an irrelevant piece of idle gossip, although deep in its soul, there was an inkling of recognition as a small fire lit inside the pheguth's worn soul.

The pheguth stared out of its tiny window, eyeing the blazing sunset with something akin to longing, hidden by the haze exhaustion and pain. It then looked down upon the city, seeing all the beings that so resembled it, and yet were roaming free of pain or anything of the like that was regular for the pheguth.

Why was it that the pheguth was picked out from the lot, chosen to be exposed to demons and much worse, all that it was sure those down there had never even given a second thought to in their lifetimes.

The pheguth pondered this thought for a long while, the retreating even farther down the horizon so that it was already mostly dark by the time the pheguth noticed anything.

The pheguth lay on its hard bed, forgoing the paltry meal shoved under the door that was to be its sustenance. With the pondering thought still in its head, but also with the knowledge that sleep would be desperately needed on the morrow, the pheguth slept as peacefully as it could, one thought lasting in its mind as it blacked out to the whatever dreams its oblivion would allow it.

There would be more of the same tomorrow.

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BTW, if any of you were wondering, central dogma refers to the central governmental tower.

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